In a smog-choked city somewhere in the American Midwest, an aging criminal mastermind, newly released from prison, hatches a plan for a million-dollar jewel heist and draws a wealthy lawyer and a cherry-picked trio of outlaws into his carefully devised but inevitably doomed scheme. Anchored by an abundance of nuanced performances from a gifted ensemble—including a tight-jawed Sterling Hayden and a sultry Marilyn Monroe in her breakout role—this gritty crime classic by John Huston climaxes in a meticulously detailed anatomy of a robbery that has reverberated through the genre ever since. An uncommonly naturalistic view of a seamy underworld, The Asphalt Jungle painstakingly depicts the calm professionalism and toughness of its gangster heroes while evincing a remarkable depth of compassion for their all-too-human fragility, and it showcases a master filmmaker at the height of his powers.
SPECIAL FEATURES
New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2004 by film historian Drew Casper, featuring archival recordings of actor James Whitmore
Pharos of Chaos, a 1983 documentary about actor Sterling Hayden
New interviews with film noir historian Eddie Muller and cinematographer John Bailey
Archival footage of writer-director John Huston discussing the film
Episode of the television program City Lights from 1979 featuring Huston
Audio excerpts of archival interviews with Huston
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
